May 1, 2010

Illustration Friday: Cocoon.

Aha. Well I couldn't think of how to scare kids with this week's IF topic.

Hmm. I was thinking of a coffin, inhabited by a very pale

caucasian man with some long teeth.

But I thought I shouldn't give myself nightmares this week.

So I went for child friendly and ethereal.

I feel like such a traitor. :)

Thankyou for looking.

Did you know that butterflies have feathers like birds? (Well not so big.)

And I suppose I should admit that the boy in the Cocoon (Tim) has no legs.

That's why he fits in it so well.

I put a frog in the bottom one for fun, after seeing Martine Alison's spider in "Shéhérazade". Martine's work just glows. If you get a chance have a look her site. It's well worth the visit to see what you can do with oils.

Plus you get to practice your Francais. :)

PS: Don't worry about Tim.
He is growing new legs and, if you click for big, they will be ready for next week's IF.

And why do butterflies have feathers?
I think it's so they look pretty.

(Addendum: Trust me, the little girl does have underwear. It's just a bad angle that's all. I hope no-one finds it offensive.)

This piece reminds me of a conversation I overheard while teaching in my studio the other day. Two little girls began talking about fairy dust and fairy wings and lamenting the fact that, though each of them had requested one or the other of those things from Santa, no such wonderful gift was forthcoming. We did discuss the difficulty of purchasing items we didn't even know how to find.

Your illustration is magical, like fairy dust is, I imagine. Great work, Andrew.

I love this. I want to have a print of the bottom image, the illustration I mean. How can I arrange that? This is so beautiful and I love concept. I love the girls' shoes!!! Hahahaha! You can design shoes.

Seriously, how can I get a signed copy of this image? Will you sell one to me please? Thanks.

Love the colors of this Andrew. I'm afraid I have to agree with Amalia, no creepiness factor here, well with the exception of seeing up the little girls skirt anyway. It is a very "Awwwwww, how sweet" kind of piece. Did I say how much I love the colors? It's magical.

Hello. :) It's a beautiful foggy day here, and I should be doing my tax. Uggh.

Thankyou for commenting on my work everyone.I didn't realise that you could see up the girls's skirt. Uggh -again. Sorry about that. I was looking at the frog! Show's you how my mind works, I suppose (not much at all!)

Ces, I'll be in touch when I figure how!!

see you soon unless taxman put me in jail for having fun and not doing tax.

Hey Andrew! I promise I won 't mention the underwear. :o) Great magical piece! So that is why butterflies have feathers.... but why do they have antenea? Your work blows me away every time Andrew. (that's a good thing here in the states) :o) God bless

Great light scheme in both. My vote definitely goes for the second one. And guess what. It is not because of the underwear drama, no. But there is this sneaky strangling thingie... that girl is wicked, dude. :D

Fairies don´t need underwear, because they don´t have genitals. Apart from the size and the wings, that´s the main difference between humans and fairies. You know how a picture can say more than a thousand words? This one speaks a volume! Seriously, this should be part of a book. You should write a story about Tim, and give it to a publisher. How would they not love it!??!! Great work, Andrew. And I really like your new header too!

Holy crap, you do amazing work! It all has such a dreamy other-world look to it. BTW Reactor is 3ds Max's physics simulator. You can drape cloths, break things, blow things up - it's all a lot of fun :)

Oh well...I have to admit that I approve of child-friendly. The children don't have to have the bejeezers scared out of them ALL the time. And I hate to say it, but if she has underwear on, it's not covering all that it should cover. Not that I am necessarily a pusher of underwear on children. My own children didn't wear underwear for at least a decade (too constricting). But then I didn't draw pictures of them where they SHOULD have underwear on either. But, if she's a fairy, well....their rules are different. I liked this picture a lot.